Alex Batty Details Six-Year Off-Grid Life in Documentary

Alex Batty, the British teenager who vanished for six years after being taken abroad by his mother and grandfather, has shared new details of his off-grid life in a documentary aired this week. Now 20 and living in the UK, Batty retraced his steps across Spain and France, revealing hardships including sleeping in a tent during winter and eating one meal a day, while expressing mixed feelings toward his mother.

In September 2017, 11-year-old Batty left the UK with his mother, Melanie Batty, and grandfather, David Batty, for a holiday in Marbella, Spain. Melanie lacked legal custody; Batty had been living with his grandmother, Susan Caruana, for two years. Caruana recalled Melanie asking to take him on the trip. "Alex was jumping up and down please grandma, please grandma, please let me go and I ended up saying yeah," she told interviewers. "Do you know, it's funny, it was like they put a spell on me."

The family never returned. Instead, they hid in Spain, first in Benifairó de les Valls near Valencia for two months, where Batty stayed indoors wearing disguises amid media appeals. They later moved to Villalonga, living with a woman named Trixie who provided lodging in exchange for...